No Turning Back
by keepyourmindwideopen
Summary: A little more insight to Mac and Cassidy's relationship. From the beginning right to the very end.
1. The Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars, or any of these characters. But how cool would that be?**_  
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He hadn't counted on this. If he had only known it would happen, everything would be different. But forgetting about everything else would be impossible, and he was too far into it to turn back now. He wished he could. For her sake. And now, at the edge, the only thing going through his mind is how he couldn't make her happy._

* * *

He didn't know how it happened. Just one day, there she was, and all of a sudden Cassidy Casablancas had a girlfriend. An older girlfriend, at that. That was automatic respect from the other junior guys. Years of being called Beaver, teased by Dick, Dick's friends, and, even his own father, even that couldn't keep him down anymore. He finally felt happy to be alive. And it was all because of Cindy Mackenzie. Mac, to her friends. He knew she was perfect as soon as he met her. After all, she was one of the only girls at Neptune High with at least half a brain. And she was cool. Really cool. He knew he could really be himself around her, a feat that had not yet been accomplished with anyone else.

* * *

"So, Mac. What's going on with you lately?" Veronica asked. "You seem so happy…it's all very 'Brady Bunch'."

"Remember when Marsha met Davy Jones?" Mac asked. "It's like that." She smiled.

"Ah ha! I knew it. I should get paid more for this; I really am an excellent detective. So, who is he?"

Mac rolled her eyes. "Don't you know, Sherlock?" Veronica waited for an answer. "Yes, well, I wouldn't pay you more than a dollar for your investigating services, you're horrible. You can't even figure out the Romeo to my Juliet. The Tristan to my Isolde. The Jack to my Rose. The…"

Veronica cut her off. "The David _Cassidy_, if you will, to every teenaged girl in the seventies?"

Mac raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. "You're a better detective that I gave you credit for."

"Yes, well, to be quite honest, Beaver already told me." She shrugged.

"He doesn't like to be called that, you know." Mac told her.

"Sorry, you're right. Old habits die hard." Veronica replied.

"Actually, I don't mind. Just don't call him that to his face. It seems to upset him." Mac smiled.

"Yes, I wonder why." Veronica remarked sarcastically.

Mac giggled and twirled her blue streak of hair around her index finger. "Is my giddy girlish behavior weirding you out?"

"A little. But don't worry. I'm so the same way. You know, smiling all the time, giggling, doodling hearts and writing 'Mrs. Duncan Kane' all over my homework. We all do it."

"Is he coming back?" Mac was referring to Duncan's recent departure to who knows where, after kidnapping his and his dead ex-girlfriend's baby. Veronica's expression quickly changed from cheerful to sad. "I'm sorry." Mac apologized. "I didn't mean to pry. It's none of my business."

"It's okay. He's not. But don't worry about me. I'm fine, really. It needed to be done. Meg's parents are crazy. I wouldn't want her raised that way." She shrugged and shook her head.

"What did he name her?"

"Lilly." Veronica smiled.

"I should've known." Mac replied as she opened her laptop, and quickly closed it again when she remembered her desktop background was remarkably similar to Veronica's homework doodles. Just…minus the Duncan part.

* * *

"Dude. What is up?" Dick asked in his usual surfer dude speak, pushing his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes.

"I don't know man. Can't explain it." Cassidy grinned and looked at the floor.

"All's I know is you're way weird. I mean, I've always known you were _weird_, but this is, like, major weird." Dick was never one for deep conversations. His vocabulary was pretty much limited to chicks, surfing, and video games. "It's freaking me out, man. You're even kicking my ass at this." He motioned towards the television at the game they were playing.

"Dick, don't try to think too hard, you'll hurt yourself." Logan Echolls said as he plopped down on the couch after returning from getting a soda from the kitchen. "It's pretty clear to me, that our precious Beaver has a…what do you call it? Oh yeah, a girlfriend. Sorry. It's been so long, I forgot what they were called."

"Whoa. Dude, you were totally plowing my step-mom." Dick remarked.

"Yeah, well. It wasn't exactly a long-term romance." Logan replied, shrugging.

"So the Beav's got a woman, huh?" Dick asked, rubbing his fist into Cassidy's hair. "It's about time, little bro! I was starting to get worried about you. I mean, I totally gave you the chance to nail Ronnie at Shelly's party, and when you passed that up, I started to wonder if you might be queer bait. But I had faith in you all along."

Cassidy's face fell.

"Who is she?" Logan asked.

"None of you business. I don't want to talk about it." Cassidy said, throwing down his controller and leaving the room. He headed upstairs and slammed his door behind him.

"Dude. What a girl." Dick laughed.


	2. So Do You Wanna?

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don't own Veronica Mars or any of these characters…but just think, to own Dick and Beaver. That would be pretty awesome.**

Chapter Two

Mac and Veronica were still in Mac's room chatting when the phone rang. "Hello?" Mac answered.

"Hey, it's me."

"Hey, me." Mac replied. It was Cassidy, of course, but the two of them loved goofing around together. Veronica raised an eyebrow. Mac covered the receiver with her hand, "It's Beaver." She whispered.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone. I need to get going anyway." Veronica grabbed her stuff and let herself out, waving goodbye to Mac, who was oblivious.

"So I was wondering," Cassidy began.

"Yes?" Mac urged him on. Even though the two were perfectly comfortable around each other in friend-type situations, when it came to the boyfriend/girlfriend stuff, they were both very shy. Neither Mac nor Cassidy had been in a relationship before, so they were both very new to this, and it made things awkward. "Cass?"

"Right. So I was wondering," he went on, "if you would like to go to the Winter Carnival? With me? I mean, I know it's dumb, but, I don't know, it could be fun, I guess. I totally understand if you don't want to, but I just thought maybe—"

She cut him off. "Of course I would. I'd love to."

"Oh! Okay, yeah, great! Then I'll pick you up around three?"

"Yeah, fine. See you then." She smiled.

"Okay, see you then. Bye." He was smiling too.

"Bye." She hung up the phone and flung herself onto her bed. People always do that in movies when they're happy—fling themselves onto something. She was elated.

"Cindy? Honey, who was that on the phone?" Her mother called up to her.

"Just…a friend from school." She called back downstairs. Yeah, okay, so she hadn't told her mom yet, but Mac isn't really the kind of girl who confides things in her ultra-perky blonde mom. It's not like she's Madison Sinclair. But she almost was. The previous year, Mac found out that she and Madison had been switched at birth. She always suspected she had been adopted, as she was nothing like her blond, self-involved family. Madison would've fit right in. Upon meeting the Sinclairs, she discovered they were just like her, and Madison was the outcast. It made her sad to think of the way things could've been.

* * *

"Hey Beav, you want a ride to the carnival?" Dick asked in an almost brotherly fashion.

"No, thanks, but I'm going with someone else, so I'll just drive myself."

"Ohhh, I get it. You're taking your lady of the evening, right?"

"Shut up, Dick." Cassidy lightly punched him in the arm.

"You mean…you _didn't_ have to pay her? Wow."

"Bye, Dick." Cassidy rolled his eyes.

Mac kept looking out the front door, waiting for Cassidy. She told her parents she was riding with Veronica in order to keep them from asking embarrassing questions. The last thing she needed was for them to find out that she lied. She finally saw his car and shouted goodbye to her parents as she ran out the front door.

"You didn't even let me practice my skills."

"What?" Mac looked at him, confused.

"You know, my skills. Like, coming to get you at the door, opening the car door for you. It's okay, I understand that you're embarrassed of me, I'll live." He laughed.

"Oh, no. It's not that, it's just—my parents. They're kind of…"

"No, I get it. It's okay."

She laid her head back on the car seat and turned to look at him. "Well, if you really want, I'll let you walk me to the door tonight."


	3. Dick's A Dick

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. Still wishing.**

Chapter Three

"Hey man, thanks." Dick said as Logan handed him a blue frozen drink. He had been entertaining himself at one of the carnival booths, shooting at a giant clown face. He took a sip of the drink and looked around the fair grounds. "Dude, am I drunk?"

"No Dude, you're just special." Logan replied with a smile.

"Why is the Beav all snuggly with that chick from _Ghost World_?" He knew his brother had a new girlfriend. But her?

Logan shrugged. "New squeeze?"

"Dude, maybe _he's_ drunk." Dick suggested.

Mac and Beaver had been making their rounds at the carnival for a while, now. They were getting along great, but Mac noticed sometimes Beaver seemed a little nervous. She was sure he'd get over it eventually.

"So are we winning?"

"What?" Beaver asked.

"I feel like we're in a contest with all the other couples: Who can hold hands the longest?" She smiled at him.

"I just—I don't want to lose you in the crowd." Beaver looked down and smiled. Being with her was nice. Nothing could put him in a bad mood today.

"Hey! Aren't you going to introduce us?" As soon as Beaver heard that voice, his face dropped. He had been dreading this. Dick and his friends ran over to them. "Wow. You guys are cute, aren't they? Like gerbils in love." Dick was smiling. He knew exactly what he was doing. It was his job, as the older brother, to make Beaver's life as miserable as possible. Especially about girls. Especially about _this_ girl.

"Dick, don't." Beaver pleaded with him. The last thing he needed was to be humiliated in front of Mac.

"Chill, Beav. I get to give a big brother speech here. Just looking out for you."

"You don't have to worry. He's fine." Mac told Dick.

"Yeah? In good hands? 'Cause you gotta take it easy on my bro. If you're gonna pop his cherry, hold back a little."

"You're such an _ass_." Beaver muttered.

"Don't go busting out any tricks. Be gentle and sweet. You don't wanna spook him. Like right now, I know his hands are just dripping with sweat. And you are so completely grossed out, but you're hanging in. I dig it."

Beaver let go of Mac's hand. His hand _was_ sweaty, and he wished Dick hadn't pointed it out.

"Oop! See how it just slipped right out? Gotta work on that, bro." Dick patted his brother on the shoulder and left.

"I'm sorry about that." Beaver looked at the ground again.

"It's okay." Mac could tell he was really upset. "Just don't worry about it, okay?"

"He's just such an asshole..." Beaver sighed.

"Yeah, no kidding." Mac laughed. "Hey, you know what? I know a way we can get him back."

"Oh, yeah?" Beaver perked up. "How?"

Mac smiled. "I knew bringing my laptop was a good idea. Come on, let's go get it."

Once they had gotten her laptop from the car, Mac opened it and pulled up Google.

"So what's the plan?" Beaver asked.

"How does your brother feel about loose women?" Mac asked.

"Good."

"What about loose transvestites?"

"Probably not so good. But I like where this is going." Beaver smiled.

"We'll hire her...him. Um. Which is it? Her? Anyway, we'll hire h...them. They'll come here, pretend to be waiting for their kid, flirt with Dick...you see where I'm going with this?"

"Sweet. I mean, the revenge part." Beaver laughed, "Not the transvestite part."

"Hopefully Dick won't be able to resist himself, and, well...you get the idea." Mac had never liked Dick, and after today, she was thrilled to see something like this happen to him. "How about this one?" She pointed to the screen.

"Bambi Gasm." Beaver laughed.

"Of the Boston Gasms?" Mac asked in a snooty New England accent.

"One would hope." Beaver answered.


End file.
